SPARTA TOWNSHIP -- Rob Steffens stood in the middle of his farm market on 13 Mile Road surrounded by pies, jams, jellies, knickknacks and fresh fruit and recalled how the small business saved his farm.

It was 2002, and growers were going out of business all around him.

"I was almost one of them," he said.

That was when he made the decision to invest in a farm market to bring in added revenue. Today, his 250 acres pay most of the bills, not his pumpkin patch or scarecrow-making station. But back then the market was essential in keeping him afloat.

"If you don't keep adjusting, trying to improve efficiency and put money back into it, you will find yourself right back down there," he said.

That sort of thinking is what landed the Steffens Orchard and Market on the 2010 Entrepreneurial Farm Tour organized by the Michigan State University Extension. The tour, which ran Wednesday and Thursday, aimed to highlight what farmers do to add value to their business.

Dan Rossman, Gratiot County Extension director, said the highlighted activities were more than profitable for the farmers.

"They were socially acceptable, good for the environment and a fun thing for the family to do," he said. "Some of them built upon what their parents and grandparents had done and some of them started from scratch."

At Grassfields Farm south of Coopersville, the Meerman family produces organic cheeses and milk along with beef from grass-fed cows.

View full sizeKaty Batdorff/The Grand Rapids PressVisitors check out a partly ethanol-powered truck at the Jim and Russell Rasch Farm. The farm hosts a feed production system where the byproduct is ethanol that can be used to fuel vehicles.

And at the Jim and Russell Rasch Farm in Wright Township, a trio of entrepreneurs created a feed production system where the byproduct is ethanol that can be used to fuel vehicles.

They are working toward replicating the system for other farms.

"You've got a way of making a huge profit," said Frank Van Kempen, who worked with Scott Sovereign and Russ Rasch to develop the process. "As far as I can see, this is the one alternative fuel that can pay for itself without government help."

More than 60 people took the tour, including longtime farmers, those in the business only a few years, those who are thinking about farming or some, like Betty Kellenberger, who were just interested in the topic.

Kellenberger, 65, was just elected to the Montcalm County Board of Commissioners and said agriculture is the county's No. 1 industry.

THE LIST

Agri-businesses

The following farms were highlighted on the 2010 Entrepreneurial Farm Tour organized by the MSU Extension Program.

She was impressed with what she was seeing, especially the ethanol production.

"The growth potential of the industry is fabulous," she said.

Tim and Lori Frisbie, who run Traditions Organic Farm in Alma, took the tour with their four sons, ages 6 to 19. Their 19-year-old plans to start a CSA on their farm.

"This gives you lots of little ideas," said Tim Frisbie, who was an engineer for Mercedes before buying the family farm five years ago.

John and Sally Stoll are veterans of the tour. The couple farms about 40 acres of wheat and soybeans in Ashley.

"We have found that people who are established and willing to share information (provide) a lot of ideas for those of us who are curious or perhaps in need of another perspective," John Stoll said.

Dixie Sandborn, a 4-H horticulture specialist, said she will take home several of ideas for 4-H participants who want to start their own businesses. But she was impressed with the farmers' efforts to be sustainable and environmentally conscious, too.

"It's not all about money," she said.

Mike Bronkema can attest to that. He welcomed the tour to his Shady Side Farm in Olive Township Thursday where he explained the composting process and the buffer strips that protect waterways from farm runoff.

He said he's making about half what he used to in construction and working twice as hard for it. But he enjoys the work.